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Early Reading and Writing Through Phonics

Phonics is the approach we take to the teaching of early reading and writing. The national framework of Letters and Sounds forms the basis of our phonics teaching during children's first years at Hornbeam.

To help parents explore the world of phonics with children at home, here are some great websites

In Year R and Key Stage 1 children are carefully guided in their choice of reading book. We use books from different reading schemes to make sure there is a variety of books to choose from. We use a book banding system to ensure these books closely match the children's ability. The majority of our reading scheme books are taken from the Oxford Reading Tree.

Independent Reading at Hornbeam

Accelerated Reader

We have a well stocked library of fiction and non-fiction books. When they are judged to have reached a good level of independence in reading, children are encouraged to choose their own books from our library. All our fiction books are part of the Accelerated Reader scheme, which is an online tool we use to inspire and motivate our 'free readers' to choose challenging and interesting books. .

When they have completed a book children are asked to complete an online quiz to see how well they have understood what they have just read. This helps us ensure your child is choosing books appropriately and making progress with their reading.

As parents you can use the AR Bookfinder website to look for books in our library that your child is interested in reading. To do this enter the keycode GG588517 in the box at the top left of the web page.

You can also search for other books by title or author to see if they are part of the Accelerated Reader scheme. This could help you choose books to buy at home that will count on our Accelerated Reader scheme and allow your child to take quizzes on at school.

You can also log in to the Accelerated Reader Home Connect area and see how your child isdoing with their reading. Use the username and password that has been sent home by letter.